Monday, November 28, 2016

Test 3 Complete Solar Video Systems

The solar video system equipment has been completed and tested. The system is robust and works fine. Here is a short video describing the system. Included is the live stream recording during the test. It is available to view on the http://www.ustream.tv/search?q=2017LiveSolarEclipse page. Inverted video will be corrected by rotating camera 180 degrees. A test will be conducted for those interested and notification will be given prior to the test.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Test 2

It is raining in Tucson today so the test of the solar telescope optical system was conducted inside and the target was a distant mountain. The video was taken through the window...not the best practice but the test wasn't about getting the best image. You might wonder why so many tests. It is one thing to have a great plan designing a system and another to actually implement it. My goal is to have a robust, reliable system in place for the eclipse. The only way to get that result is test, reconfigure and test again...until it's right. So starting the process in November for an eclipse happening in August is just about right. Remember this is only one of several systems that will be used during the eclipse. I post these tests to give you an idea of what is involved in doing science using equipment to collect data. This is the practical "nuts and bolts" part of science that eludes the public.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

For
those interested in testing

the live stream system for live solar
images step one is to go to the following link and let me know if you
can see the channel as 2017LiveSolarEclipse. There is a 10 second saved
video called "Test video confirmed playback" click on it an see if it
plays back and what the quality is like. The next step is to broadcast
live solar video from the telescope. I'll let you know when that will
happen. Thanks

Friday, November 18, 2016

Testing of the optical systems

to be used during the eclipse is now underway. Several systems will be tested in the coming months. This test was of the system to be used to upload images of the eclipse in real-time to the internet for public distribution.